Behavior Virtual Classroom
"Behavior goes where reinforcement flows"
Week of April 21, 2020
Now that you have established a routine and schedule for virtual learning, the next step is to identify effective ways to help your child stay on task. Keep in mind these fundamentals of planning concepts when addressing ways to keep your child on task when completing school activities:
Keeping your child on task
1. What does “done” look like?
Making sure that you communicate to your children what “done” looks like and what that means to you is an important part of planning. For example, does “done” mean finishing Redbird only or does it mean completing the entire Morning Schedule? By checking for understanding with your child, it ensures that you have communicated exactly what you mean and mean what you say, thus avoiding power struggles or conflicts.
2. What steps do I need to do?
Evaluating your role in your child’s on task behavior is important to assess during planning. Will you need to set reminders to check in on your child to make sure they are on task at certain times? When will be a good time to provide positive praise to your child staying on task? When would be an appropriate time to give your child a break from school activities? This will keep your child motivated to stay on task and complete school activities in a timely manner.
3. What materials does my child need?
Whether it’s an art project or music activity, making sure your child has access to the materials needed ahead of time will be a time saver. It will also keep your child on task and not distracted by having to find materials necessary to complete projects.
When Planning, Consider some of these techniques to increase on task behavior
Order of assignments
During the planning phase, you may recall that your child has difficulty with completing writing assignments. By “chunking” your child’s assignments, it will help to increase their on-task behavior by making it less aversive to complete. Breaking down the task or assignment into smaller pieces or “chunks” can make overwhelming tasks doable. Review the assignment and divide it into parts and have your child do one part at a time. If it is a longer assignment give them a short break and then return to do more “chunks”.
Modeling On-Task Behavior
Modeling for your child how to get started on a project is a great way to increase on-task behaviors. You can do this by verbalizing what it is you want to do, demonstrating the process of brainstorming what you will need to do, and then show your child how you organize your ideas. When you are done with this process, be sure to make statements such as “Okay, this is what I need to do to get started”, “Do you think I could save time doing it this way?” and then proceed to do so immediately.
Use Preferential and Flexible Seating
Seating a student near the teacher is one tried-and-true method to increase on-task behavior. To adapt this method to the virtual learning environment, simply select a working area for your child in a location where he or she is most likely to stay focused on the task assigned, preferably away from potential environmental distractors and siblings. Allowing your child access to flexible seating, such as sitting on the floor, using a bean bag chair or a lap desk will stimulate your child’s sensory receptors which will help them focus and process information in order to stay on task.
Ways to use reinforcement systems
Using a reinforcement system is not only an effective tool to motivate your child to complete their assigned work but will also motivate them to stay on task in the interim. Examples of this could be that your child earns a cotton ball to be placed in the jar each time your child completes a task. Each cotton ball your child earns represents 2 extra minutes of play time on their Nintendo switch. Using a piece of paper and tally marks work the same way. Class Dojo also offers a reward system that is designed specifically for parents in the home setting https://www.classdojo.com/beyondschool/. The following link gives access to printable behavior charts: http://www.kidpointz.com/printable-charts/behavior-charts/
Using a Timer
First/Then Visuals
Fidgets/ Manipulatives
Providing children with a fidget or manipulative will help them self-regulate their attention, behavior and learning. If you decide that using a fidget may help your child with focusing and staying on task, you should first explain to your child that it is a tool to help them focus, not a toy. Amazon and Dollar stores have many different manipulatives available.
Activities that promote On Task Practice
· Have your child engage in games which require following directions and learning the basics will allow him/her to learn the importance of beginning a task. Questioning your child about what needs to be done to move onto the next level, or having your child teach you the basics of the game can also be beneficial because it will reinforce the importance of listening and following directions.
· Make unpleasant tasks (e.g. cleaning room, doing chores) into a game or competition. Embedding a task into the format of a game or competition may provide your child with the motivation to accomplish the undesirable task.
· Give your child the responsibility for setting up a game or activity that they want to do (e.g. arts and crafts, sport, board game). Ensuring that your child is given the responsibility of preparing for a desired game or activity will force your child to initiate the steps. The reward for setting up the game is that your child is now able to play it.
· Play games which use a timer (e.g. “Boggle,” “Taboo”). The use of a timer will prepare your child for situations where timing and structure are important and allows him/her to practice working within a time limit.
· Complete activities that encourage on task behavior. Completing a cooking class (Check out @Vbscratch on Twitter for weekly kid friendly classes!) or following a family recipe is a great way to promote on task behavior. Mastering an age appropriate puzzle, I-spy game or scavenger/treasure hunt are also fun activities that encourage on task behavior as well.
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Email: catherine.quinn@vbschools.com
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